PHYS-443 Physics of nuclear reactors

The lectures will be recorded and made available through Moodle/Switchtube. 

The exercises associated with each lecture will be provided through Moodle each week; their solutions the week after. 

Summary

In this course, one acquires an understanding of the basic neutronics interactions occurring in a nuclear fission reactor as well as the conditions for establishing and controlling a nuclear chain reaction.

Content

  • Brief review of nuclear physics
- Historical: Constitution of the nucleus and discovery of the neutron
- Nuclear reactions and radioactivity
- Cross sections
- Differences between fusion and fission.
  • Nuclear fission
    - Characteristics - Nuclear fuel - Introductory elements of neutronics.
    - Fissile and fertile materials.
  • Element of reactor design
    - flux and heat source distribution; properties of different coolants and technological consequences
  • LWR reactors technology
    - overview of the functional scheme of PWR and BWRs; fuel elements; compensation of excess reactivity in PWRs and BWRs (boron, etc,)
  • Neutron diffusion and slowing down
    - Monoenergetic neutrons - Angular and scalar flux
    - Diffusion theory as simplified case of transport theory - Neutron slowing down through elastic scattering.
  • Multiplying media (reactors)
    - Multiplication factors - Criticality condition in simple cases.
    - Thermal reactors - Neutron spectra - Multizone reactors - Multigroup theory and general criticality condition - Heterogeneous reactors.
  • Reactor kinetics
    - Point reactor model: prompt and delayed transients - Practical applications.
  • Reactivity variations and control
    - Short, medium and long term reactivity changes. Different means of control.
  • Advanced reactor designs
    - Breeding and transmutation; introduction into Gen-IV reactors